Employers occasionally ask if there is a way that they can pay less than the minimum wage. The only exception is for teen workers, ages 14 and 15, who may be paid 85 percent of the minimum wage, which is $6.49 per hour.

All of us who own or manage businesses in Washington are required to post the current minimum wage poster in our workplace. You can download the 2007 version for free from the Department of Labor & Industries website.

Some employers have asked if they can utilize volunteers in their business. This can come up when a business is in a start-up mode, and has limited funds. It can be tempting to entice volunteers with the promise of later payment or stock options down the road when the business takes off. Sometimes a job seeker will approach a business with the idea, hoping to gain some valuable work experience, or that through their volunteer work the business will be convinced to hire them.

While it may be tempting to get free labor, it is against the law for a for-profit business to utilize volunteers. You must at least pay your employees minimum wage. If you allow an individual to work directly or indirectly on behalf of your business, or permit them to do any work for your business, they are your employee, and you must pay them for the hours they work.

Employers also ask us if they can utilize working interviews as a way to see if an employee is a good match for their business. In a working interview an employee will typically interview with the employer, and then will work for a short period of time in the job, usually no more than a day or two, in order for the employer to verify that the job applicant has the basic skills necessary for the job. Again, whenever someone is working for your company, even if you consider it a working interview, they are your employee for that period of time, and you must pay them at least minimum wage for the hours worked.

The employers we work with are often seeking ways to manage their payroll costs. Recently an employer mentioned a situation with an employee who would come in early or stay late periodically, without permission, which would throw her into overtime for the week. The first couple times, the employer felt it showed initiative. But then he started to wonder if she was taking advantage of the company. He asked her to not work any extra hours without permission, and she did it again, so he wondered if he could refuse to pay her. The law does require that employees be paid for all hours worked. Even a written policy stating that prior permission from a supervisor to work overtime does not negate the requirement to pay an employee. However, it does give an employer a guideline for employees to follow.

A consistently followed discipline policy should be implemented with an employee who violates this policy, which can lead to termination.

Another question that we sometimes get is whether a business can refuse to pay a worker for hours worked when the worker was not really productive. For instance, if your phone bill shows that an employee spent a half hour on a personal phone call, do you have to pay the employee for the time? Since the employee was on the job, the employee should be paid, and this again should be treated as a discipline issue.

A variation of this situation, however, is when a timecard contains hours that were not actually worked by the employee. In this instance, the supervisor may physically change the timecard. Do not erase the hours the employee entered. Instead, mark through those hours and enter the correct hours, then initial the change and explain to the employee why the timecard was changed.

During this time of year the weather can be unpredictable, causing power outages and other problems. Employers handle snow days in a variety of ways; some paying employees for the entire day if they show up for work, others paying their hourly employees only for the actual hours worked. If an employee arrives at your business ready to work, and your power is out, or you decide that the weather is too poor to open your business for the day, you may send your employees home. The law does not require you to pay employees for showing up for work if they are immediately sent home. If you have them wait for awhile, for instance to see if the power comes back on, you would need to pay them for the time they are asked to be available to you. You may send them home immediately, requesting that they give you a phone number where they can be reached, in order for you to call them when work is available. You can also tell them a time to report back to the workplace. In neither of these instances would you be required to pay the employee until they return to work.

With a continuously rising minimum wage, combined with a tightening job market, local employers will face increased pressures to hold the line on costs and utilize creative methods to recruit, staff and retain employees. While it feels at times like the laws favor employees, employers have rights too, and we need to know what they are. We are protected when we have a well-written employee handbook, clear employment practices, consistent discipline policies, and we utilize these tools to manage our workplace and hold the line on costs.